HS BASEBALL: Hamilton bats get hot in win over Ocean Twp.

The third-seeded Hamilton baseball team, which looked like dead men walking on Friday afternoon, took a dominating 7-1 victory over 14th-seeded Ocean Township Monday in a Central Jersey Group III Tournament first-round game.

In beating the Spartans in the opening round for the second straight year, the Hornets will host the Freehold Boro/Middletown South winner Friday.

Hamilton’s bats hit a funk last week, especially in a dreary loss to Hightstown Friday. But on Saturday the Hornets bounced back with wins over Notre Dame and Princeton to put them within a win of taking the Valley Division outright.

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That weekend blitz seemed to get Hamilton (18-6) back in a groove as it unloaded all 14 of its hits in the first four innings and cruised from there. Cody Astbury didn’t allow a hit until a one-out single by Zack Godfrey in the sixth inning, and finished with a four-hitter with five strikeouts.

“We kind of went cold for a while so we had to try to get hopping before the states,” said centerfielder Dan Garcia, who had three hits along with catcher David Osnato. “The Ocean coach was at the Hightstown game so they may have had a tough time getting a good scouting report on us because we came out as a different team today. We showed them we could actually hit the ball.”

Two-out singles by Osnato, Brandon Kirk and John Lansing gave Hamilton a 1-0 lead in the first. Garcia ripped an RBI double in the second and Lansing, who had two hits and three RBI, slammed an RBI double in the third.

Lansing, who missed the entire basketball season with torn ACLs last year and this year, is coming to life at the right time.

“At the beginning of the year, like the first 10 games, I didn’t have any RBIs,” Lansing said. “I was hitting the ball well but wasn’t catching any breaks. I’m starting to see the ball a lot better and my teammates are obviously doing a tremendous job.”

Hamilton broke it open in a four-run fourth that featured RBI singles by Osnato and Erving Nazario.

All eyes then turned to Astbury to see if he could pitch a gem, but the unwritten law was written in the bottom of the fifth in Hamilton’s dugout.

“Someone said something the inning before — I’m not gonna mention any names — but they said ‘Cody have you given up any hits yet?’” Osnato said with a laugh. “It is what it is. He’s a young, and he’ll learn what to say and not to say.”

“I didn’t hear him say it but I heard two kids talking about what he said, but that didn’t really affect me,” Astbury said.

It was the first state start for the junior right-hander, who showed no nerves.

“I know if I go out there and pitch my game I’ll be fine,” Astbury said. “I just looked at it like we were playing them in the regular season, and just go out there and pitch how I pitch.”

“Cody threw a heck of a game,” Osnato said. “You can’t ask for anymore. Hitters hit when we needed to and Cody, every time I talk about him, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him.”

And after a tough stretch last week, there are a lot of good things to say about Hamilton again.